Boom greyhound Wynburn Sheean raced his way into the George & Eileen Johnston Puppy Championship final with a brilliant heat win in Devonport on Tuesday but trainer Ben Englund is already looking further afield.
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Wynyard-based Englund is confident the young speedster, who had his second birthday only two days ago, is ready to take on the older stars in next month's Devonport Chase.
The race formerly known as the Devonport Cup has heats on November 17 and a $25,000-to-the-winner final a week later.
"We'd be mad not to have a go at it," Englund said, after Wynburn Sheean sped over the 452m in a career-best 25.3 seconds to win his Puppy Championship heat by six lengths.
"The way he's going, his times are better than a lot of invitation races."
Wynburn Sheean has drawn box 4 in next week's $6500 final but Englund is not concerned.
"He's got Wynburn Express, who wants the fence, drawn inside him and Quick Joey Small, who goes wide, drawn on his outside so it should work out well," the trainer said.
"But if he runs the sort of sectionals he did today he should be in front anyway."
Englund also won a heat with Langley Roo who was a maiden before landing a longshot plunge ($41 to $26 and paying only $11 on the tote).
"He's got a large group of owners, some connected to the Somerset Football Club, and they would have had a bet," the trainer said.
"The dog has been that unlucky - every start he's been in trouble - so it was good to see the breaks finally go his way."
The other heat saw the David Crosswell-trained Quick Joey Small run down his more fancied kennel-mate Vintage Fame for a half-length win.
Final field: 1 Parkour, 2 Highland Wonder, 3 Wynburn Express, 4 Wynburn Sheean, 5 Quick Joey Small, 6 Highland Chief, 7 Vintage Fame, 8 Langley Roo. Res: Action Plus, Just Rambling.
PROMISING stayer Goodnight Vicki raced to favouritism for the Middle Distance Championship with a dominant heat win at Mowbray on Monday night.
The Blake Pursell-trained bitch led all the way to score by four lengths in 34.96 at her first try over 600m.
Pursell said he had expected the full sister to Sandown Cup winner Bronski Beat to handle the step up in distance without any worries.
"Her run-home sectionals over 500m have been super strong," he said.
The second heat was a much closer affair, with Simmo's My Bro running down tearaway leader Casino Ace to score by a head in 35.03.
Pages Creek, a kennel-mate of Goodnight Vicki, finished a distant third from box 8 but will be better suited from box 1 in the final.
"He definitely wants the inside," Pursell said.
